Implementation of Soft-Lithography Techniques for Fabrication of Bio-Inspired Multi-Layer Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Interdigitated Mechanically Compliant Electrodes

Corbaci, Mert; Walter, Wayne W.; Lamkin-Kennard, Kathleen A.

doi:10.3390/act7040073

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…The fabrication of contractile actuators with vertically oriented electrodes offers a more promising approach (Figure b). While arrays of vertical electrodes can be patterned lithographically, new masks must be generated for each device design . By contrast, 3D printing enables the rapid design and fabrication of soft materials in nearly arbitrary geometries .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3D Printing of Interdigitated Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Chortos

Hajiesmaili

Morales

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

151

128

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Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are soft electromechanical devices that exhibit large energy densities and fast actuation rates. They are typically produced by planar methods and, thus, expand in-plane when actuated. Here, reported is a method for fabricating 3D interdigitated DEAs that exhibit in-plane contractile actuation modes. First, a conductive elastomer ink is created with the desired rheology needed for printing high-fidelity, interdigitated electrodes. Upon curing, the electrodes are then encapsulated in a self-healing dielectric matrix composed of a plasticized, chemically crosslinked polyurethane acrylate. 3D DEA devices are fabricated with tunable mechanical properties that exhibit breakdown fields of 25 V µm −1 and actuation strains of up to 9%. As exemplars, printed are prestrainfree rotational actuators and multi-voxel DEAs with orthogonal actuation directions in large-area, out-of-plane motifs.The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201907375.cycling and breakdown behavior [33][34][35] and the presence of a rigid frame limits the geometries that can be achieved. [24,36] Recent attention has been directed toward developing approaches that enable contractile displacements in prestrain-free DEAs, including manual and automated stacking of individual planar layers [37] or sequential deposition of active materials via inkjet printing [38] and spray coating. [39] The fabrication of contractile actuators with vertically oriented electrodes offers a more promising approach (Figure 1b). While arrays of vertical electrodes can be patterned lithographically, new masks must be generated for each device design. [40][41][42] By contrast, 3D printing enables the rapid design and fabrication of soft materials in nearly arbitrary geometries. [43][44][45][46][47] For example, direct ink writing (DIW), an extrusion-based 3D printing method, has been used to pattern soft functional materials, including sensors, [48] stretchable electronics, [49] liquid crystalline elastomers, [50] and soft robots. [51,52] While this method has recently been used to print DEAs, they do not exhibit an in-plane contractile response. [52][53][54] Here, we create 3D DEAs composed of interdigitated vertical electrodes that are printed, cured, and encapsulated in an insulating dielectric matrix (Figure 1c). These prestrain-free contractile DEAs can be produced in nearly arbitrary geometries. During their actuation, the stress generated is given by σ = ε 0 ε r (E) 2 , where ε 0 is the vacuum permittivity, ε r is the dielectric constant, and E is the electric field. For small strains, the actuation strain (s z ) is s z = σ/E Y = ε 0 ε r (E) 2 /E Y , where E Y is the Young's modulus. Their actuation performance is therefore maximized by increasing the breakdown field and dielectric constant, while simultaneously reducing the elastic modulus of the matrix. Since variations in the dielectric thickness can cause localization of the electric field that results in p...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3D Printing of Interdigitated Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Chortos

Hajiesmaili

Morales

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

151

128

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“…Highly optically absorbing elastomeric nanocomposites can be formed as free‐standing materials, applied as thin films on macro [ 1 ] and microscopic targets [ 2 ] and patterned using surface modification techniques such as soft lithography. [ 3 ] They are widely used in applications ranging from light‐emitting diodes [ 4 ] to bio detection [ 5 ] and solar cells. [ 6 ] These elastomeric composites have shown great promise in biomedical imaging, in particular for optical ultrasound (OpUS) generation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CuInS₂ Quantum Dot and Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites for All‐Optical Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging

Bodian

Colchester

Macdonald

et al. 2021

Adv Materials Inter

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“…[249] Cobaci et al made use of advances in microfabrication techniques to develop an actuator made of microscale DEA units to resemble myofibrils in biological muscles. [250] The single body DEA (SDEA) has also been introduced to remove the necessity of an external frame, which leads to lighter and more flexible DEAs for artificial muscle applications. [251] Moreover, better modeling and control of DEAs are also actively pursued as the nonlinear behavior of DEAs creates challenges in precise control.…”

Section: Coulombic Attraction Of Electrodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials, Actuators, and Sensors for Soft Bioinspired Robots

et al. 2020

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This review covers recent advancements in the field of bioinspired soft robotics, with a primary focus on the last 4 years (2017)(2018)(2019)(2020). The review serves as a toolbox for an interdisciplinary audience interested in the most recent bioinspired soft robotic technologies. In particular, it highlights and explores the vital components of soft robots, focusing on the enabling mechanisms and their biological inspirations. The first section discusses the materials used to fabricate soft bio inspired robots. Soft bioinspired actuation and sensing are then discussed, exploring their capabilities and implementation by researchers. Existing challenges and future potentials of bioinspired soft robots are addressed in the concluding remarks. This review provides engineers and scientists with the latest technological advancements and information needed for designing and developing the next generation of soft bioinspired robotic systems. The future applications of these robots will be grand and limitless. Materials Used for Bioinspired Sensors and ActuatorsClassical robotic systems are comprised of rigid bodies, actuators, and sensors. Unfortunately, many of these well-developed actuators and sensors are not transferable to soft bodies. Thus, researchers working in soft robotics need to reinvent actuators and sensors for soft moving bodies. Biological organisms can be an excellent inspiration for designing these soft actuators and sensors, allowing for their integration in both soft and rigid bodies. The design process of soft actuators and sensors have to be initiated with material selection and composition, for they are foundations upon which the actuators and sensors will be built around. Presently, a diversified list of materials has been used in the development of soft robotic systems. This section will cover some of the latest advancements in the last 4 years in the area of material selection and composition for the design and development of soft bioinspired actuators and sensors.During the past 4 years, researchers have produced soft bioinspired actuators and sensors using biological material such as muscle tissue, [23,24] and plant fibers; [25] carbon-based materials such as graphite and graphene oxide (GO) [26][27][28][29][30][31] and carbon nanotubes (CN); [32,33] hydrogel materials such as poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), [34,35] liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), [36] dielectric elastomers (DE), [37] and ionic polymermetal composites (IPMC). [38] An overview of these materials (Figure 1), along with their underlying mechanisms, are discussed below.Biological systems can perform complex tasks with high compliance levels. This makes them a great source of inspiration for soft robotics. Indeed, the union of these fields has brought about bioinspired soft robotics, with hundreds of publications on novel research each year. This review aims to survey fundamental advances in bioinspired soft actuators and sensors with a focus on the progress between 2017 and 2020, providing a primer for the materials used i...

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Implementation of Soft-Lithography Techniques for Fabrication of Bio-Inspired Multi-Layer Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Interdigitated Mechanically Compliant Electrodes

Cited by 17 publications

References 38 publications

3D Printing of Interdigitated Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

3D Printing of Interdigitated Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

CuInS₂ Quantum Dot and Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites for All‐Optical Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging

Materials, Actuators, and Sensors for Soft Bioinspired Robots

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Implementation of Soft-Lithography Techniques for Fabrication of Bio-Inspired Multi-Layer Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Interdigitated Mechanically Compliant Electrodes

Cited by 17 publications

References 38 publications

3D Printing of Interdigitated Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

3D Printing of Interdigitated Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

CuInS2 Quantum Dot and Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites for All‐Optical Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging

Materials, Actuators, and Sensors for Soft Bioinspired Robots

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CuInS₂ Quantum Dot and Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites for All‐Optical Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging